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Biomedical subjects

J Alcocer

Publications and source records attributed to J Alcocer.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Prevalence and factors associated with fibromyalgia in Mexican patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

In total, 189 consecutive women diagnosed with SLE were evaluated using the ACR 1990 criteria for fibromyalgia. Patients were classified into three subgroups. The fibromyalgia group (FM) included patients experiencing pain on palpation in at least 11 of the 18 tender points examined, as well as having a history of widespread pain for at least three months. Patients who were noted to have pain in fewer than four quadrants with less than 11 of 18 tender points were considered to have regional pain (RP). All patients who did not meet criteria for either FM or RP were classified as having no pain (NP). Measurement of SLE disease activity, sleep complaints, depression, fatigue severity and health status were performed. Only 18 of the SLE patients (9.5%) (95% CI 5.3-14%) fulfilled the ACR criteria for the classification of FM. Of the patients, 106 (56.1%) fulfilled criteria for RP and had a number of tender points of 5.4 +/- 3.4, and the rest of the patients (34.4%) had no tenderness at specific tender point sites. Age, body mass index, educational level and disease duration were comparable between the groups. FM and RP groups had different patterns of symptoms prevalence, with dysmenorrhea being more distinctive for FM. Sleep disturbances were more severe in the FM than in the RP group. Daytime complaints such as sleepiness, fatigue and depression were similar for RP and FM groups, but patients with FM reported more disability. Fibromyalgia is not common in Mexican patients with SLE and has a different pattern of symptoms in RP and NP patients. These data add evidence that ethnicity can play an important role in FM manifestations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Objective and subjective sleep disturbances in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

OBJECTIVE: To assess objective and subjective evidence of sleep disorders in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and to examine correlations between parameters of lupus activity, depression, and sleep disturbances. METHODS: Fourteen SLE patients and 11 normal control subjects of similar age underwent all-night polysomnography on 3 consecutive nights. The patients and controls were also evaluated for daytime sleepiness by the Multiple Sleep Latency Test and completed a sleep disorders questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory. RESULTS: The polysomnographic data showed that sleep in SLE patients was characterized by respiratory and movement disorders. These intrinsic primary sleep disorders are related to the symptom of restless, poor sleep at night. Lupus patients were more sleepy during the day, and their sleepiness was related to sleep fragmentation, with more arousals and stage transitions than the control group. Disease activity was associated with decreases in sleep efficiency and delta sleep and with increases in sleep fragmentation. Depression was not correlated with the activity of the disease. CONCLUSION: There is an enhanced presence of sleep disorders in patients with SLE. The most frequent primary sleep disorders are respiratory and movement disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Pathogenic amoebae in natural thermal waters of three resorts of Hidalgo, Mexico.

In a search for free-living amoebae, seven water samples from three thermal water bathing resorts in Tecozautla, Hidalgo, were analyzed during December 1984. The samples were concentrated by filtration and centrifugation, and inoculated later on monoxenic and axenic media. The identification of the isolates was performed by morphology and isoelectric focusing of isoenzymes and total proteins. Thirty-three strains of free-living amoebae belonging to the genera Naegleria, Acanthamoeba, and Willaertia were isolated. Twenty of these strains belonged to the Naegleria genus, 16 of them were classified as Naegleria spp., and 2 were classified as Naegleria lovaniensis. Noteworthy was the finding of two pathogenic strains of the species Naegleria australiensis. N. australiensis and N. lovaniensis may be considered good indicator organisms, since they live in the same environmental conditions as N. fowleri, the agent of primary amoebic encephalitis (PAM). On the other hand, amoebae other than Naegleria were isolated and identified as Acathamoeba castellanii (two strains), and Acanthamoeba lugdunensis (one strain), which proved to be pathogenic when tested in mice. Nine more pathogenic strains of the genus Acanthamoeba spp. were isolated together with one strain of Willaertia magna, a thermophilic nonpathogenic amoeba. The chlorination and periodical surveillance of water resorts like the one studied is recommended, in order to prevent the appearance of more cases of PAM or other human diseases associated with pathogenic Acanthamoeba spp.

Amoeba↗
PubMed1984

Pathogenic and free-living protozoa cultured from the nasopharyngeal and oral regions of dental patients.

Protozoa of nose, mouth, and pharynx of 30 randomly chosen female caries patients at an odontological clinic of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, were surveyed by culture from swabs. Culture tubes of swabs from each patient were observed every other day during 5 weeks. Pathogenic protozoa found included Entamoeba histolytica Schaudinn, 1903; Naegleria fowleri Carter, 1970; Acanthamoeba castelanii Douglas, 1930; Acanthamoeba culbertsoni Singh & Das, 1970; and Balantidium coli (Malmsten, 1857) Stein, 1862. This isolation of pathogens suggests that healthy patients may be healthy carriers of cysts of protozoa, mainly amoebae, responsible for several diseases, including primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. Small pathogenic free-living amoebae have not been isolated before from females in Mexico. Many species of free-living protozoa were also cultured from swabs from the patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Insensitivity to interferon of NK cells from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Natural cytotoxicity (NK) by fresh E-rosette-negative (ER-) cells from normal donors was increased after overnight incubation with purified IFN alpha and with supernatants containing IFN gamma. ER- cells from 61% of 23 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus did not show increased cytotoxicity after treatment with IFN alpha. Similarly, ER- cells from nine of 18 patients that were treated with IFN gamma-containing supernatants failed to show increased cytotoxicity. The patients who did not show enhanced cytotoxic responses to IFN had higher mean indices of disease activity than responding patients.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Polyarteritis nodosa with renal agenesis and immunosuppressive treatment].

A case of a 44 years old man with the unique combination of polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) and the congenital absence of a kidney is presented. The clinical picture consisted of fever, general symptoms, hypertermia, peripheric neuropathy, subcutaneous nodules and renal damage. Laboratory findings included increased WBC, telescoped urinary sediment, renal insufficiency, positive rheumatoid factor, policlonal gammopathy and positive Australia antigen. A review of the pertinent literature and the etiopathogenic role of Australia antigen in PAN is discussed. Efficacy of immunosuppressive therapy was evident in this case.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Serum factors inhibiting cellular immunity in systemic lupus erythematosus].

Forty three patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were divided into three groups, inactive, active without treatment and active on treatment with steroids. T lymphocytes from peripheral blood were determined and the results compared with those of twenty five normal individuals. In further experiments, the mitogenic capacity of SLE lymphocytes to Con A and the serum's activity of these patients upon normal lymphocytes were analized. Decreased T lymphocytes were found in all groups of patients with SLE. There were no difference between the mitogenic response of SLE patients and controls when the lymphocytes were incubated with normal human AB serum. When normal lymphocytes were incubated with serum from SLE patients with active disease, and inhibition of mitogenic response to Con A was observed. These results suggests that the decrease cellular immunity observed in SLE is due to serum factors rather than to intrinsic T cell abnormality.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Immunofluorescent skin band test in the differential diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus.

Forty-four uninvolved skin biopsies from lupus patients and 43 with various connective tissue diseases and nephritides other than lupus were tested for the presence of immunoglobulin deposition in the dermal-epidermal junction. Results were examined to determine their relationship to renal and clinical activity. Lupus band test (LBT) was positive in 30 (60%) SLE patients regardless of renal or clinical status. DNA-binding (p less than 0.01) and ANA (p less than 0.002) correlated to LBT. None of the other nephritides and only 2 with other connective tissue diseases were positive. LBT is a good aid in the differential diagnosis of SLE regardless of clinical or renal activity.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Long-term evaluation of colchicine in the treatment of scleroderma.

Fifteen patients with PSS, 4 with CRST syndrome, and 4 with localized scleroderma have been treated with colchicine at the maximum tolerated individual doses for an average of 39 months (range 19--57). All but 2 of the 19 patients with generalized scleroderma and 3 of those with localized scleroderma improved. Patients who had had scleroderma for less than 5 yr when begun on colchicine, and those who received total doses of colchicine of more than 1,438 mg, scored a significantly higher mean response index than those with longer disease duration, or those who received less colchicine.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Reynold's syndrome. A case report (author's transl)].

One case of the association of primary biliar cirrhosis and systemic sclerosis progressive (SSP) is described (Reynold's syndrome). This association has been reported in 21 patients. In our case the signs of liver disease precede two years the appearence of SSP. A review of the patients with Reynold's syndrome reported is done and compared with the present case. Diagnostic approach and management of this association is also discussed.

Colchicine↗